Liberty Global had an annual revenue of $15 billion in 2017, with operations in 10 countries and 26,700 employees by 2017. Its cable services pass 44.3 million homes, with 21 million customers or 44.5 million RGUs (video, internet, and voice subscribers).[6][7][5][8] In 2016, Liberty Global was ranked 88th on the Forbes World's Most Innovative Companies list.[9]

Contents

History

Liberty Global Inc. was founded in 2005 when Liberty Media International, Inc. (LMI) and UnitedGlobalCom, Inc. (UGC) merged. LMI and UGC became subsidiaries of Liberty Global. The new entity had operations in 18 countries and networks over approximately 23 million homes, making it one of the largest broadband services companies in the world.[10][11]

Liberty acquired German company Unitymedia in November 2009 for $5.2 billion. Unitymedia was Liberty's first German acquisition and the largest private-equity exit in Europe in 2009.[12] In 2010, Liberty sold its stake in Jupiter Telecommunications, a Japanese telecommunications-services provider as Liberty shifted its resources back toward Europe.[13]

In January 2013, Liberty Global raised its stake in Belgium-based Telenet from 50.2% to 58%.[14] In June 2013, Liberty Global acquired British cable group Virgin Media for $24 billion in cash and stock.[15][16] The agreement expanded Liberty into Europe's largest cable market. The acquisition was ranked as one of the 10 largest cable deals of all time.[17] Liberty agreed on October 28 to sell Chellomedia for $1.035 billion except for its Benelux unit to AMC Networks.[14] It was reported that this acquisition would make
Liberty Global the largest broadband company in the world.[4]

Liberty Global announced it would be acquiring Dutch cable company Ziggo for €10 billion in January 2014. The acquisition was completed in November 2014, when the services of UPC Nederland began to be merged into the new business.[18] Liberty Global and Discovery Communications became joint owners of All3Media in May 2014 in a £500 million joint deal.[19][20][21] In July 2014, Liberty Global acquired a 6.4% stake in ITV plc, valued at £481 million.[22] Liberty's stake in the company increased to 9.9% in July 2015.[23][24]

In November 2015, Liberty Global announced its acquisition of Cable & Wireless Communications. The $5.3 billion deal expanded Liberty Global's presence into the Caribbean & greater Latin America.[25][26][27] The acquisition was completed in May 2016.[5] In 2015, Liberty established the stock Liberty Latin American & Caribbean (LiLAC) focusing on Panama and the Caribbean with assets in Chile and Puerto Rico. The company also owned a 49% stake in majority state-owned Trinidadian telco, TSTT, which it was eventually obliged to dispose of as the company itself competes with Liberty's wholly owned Trinidadian subsidiary, FLOW Trinidad.[28][29] Liberty Global and Discovery Communications paid approximately $195 million for a 3.4% stake in Lions Gate Entertainment Group in November 2015. Liberty CEO Mike Fries joined the Lion's Gate board of directors as part of the acquisition.[30][31][32] Liberty invested £7.5million in global broadband cable network Technetix in July 2016.[33][34] In November 2016, Liberty Global's Virgin Media subsidiary released its Netflix and other app-enabled set-top V6 box.[35]

At the end of 2017, Liberty Global announced the decision to sell its operations in Austria, UPC Austria – the country’s largest cable operator, to T-Mobile Austria for €1.9 billion.[36]

In January 2018, Liberty Latin America spun off from Liberty Global.[37] The new publicly-traded company, Liberty Latin America Ltd., operates independently throughout parts of the Caribbean and South America.[38]

In May 2018, Liberty Global announced the sale of its operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic to Vodafone for €19 billion ($22.7 billion).[39]

Merger with Vodafone in the Netherlands

In June 2015, Vodafone confirmed talks with Liberty Global focused on potential partnerships, but denied that a full merger was in the works.[40][41][42] Liberty Global invested in Guavus, a data analytics company, in September 2015.[43] In February 2016, it was announced that Vodafone and Liberty Global would merge Dutch operations. Liberty's Dutch subsidiary, Ziggo, would work with Vodafone's mobile network.[44][45] Vodafone paid Liberty €1 billion as part of the joint venture valued at €3.5 billion.[46][47] The deal was approved by the European Commission in August 2016.[48] On December 31, 2016, the proposed merger of Liberty Global's and Vodafone Group's Dutch operations was completed, resulting in a joint venture called VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V.[49]

Innovations and investments

In 2013-2016, Liberty Global invested EUR 14.5 billion in infrastruture, including investments to bring high-speed internet to four million more European households through new build and upgrades.[50] These upgrades are reported to have generated EUR 7 billion worth of social benefits for local economies.[51]

In October 2017, Liberty Global opened the Telenet Innovation Center in Brussels, its second innovation hub alongside the Tech Campus near Amsterdam. The Innovation Center is focused on testing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions and mobile technologies, including the introduction and preparation of 5G networks.[52]

Content

Liberty Global offers Netflix in several countries and other video-on-demand platforms as MaxDome in Germany, Play and Play More in Belgium, and MyPrime in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland, Switzerland Hungary and the Netherlands.

In 2017, Liberty Global partnered with affiliate Lionsgate and subsidiary premium channel Starz on a TV series, The Rook.[53] The upcoming show is based on Stephenie Meyer's novel of the same name.[54]

In February 2018, Liberty Global announced a partnership with Amazon Prime Video on the TV series called The Feed, premiering in 2019. The show will be co-produced in partnership with Amazon Studios and launched as an on-demand programme in Europe, Latin and North America.[55]

Horizon TV

Liberty Global launched Horizon TV, a box to stream to TVs, in 2012.[56] H2, an upgraded version of the Horizon box, was launched in 2013. The new system included an upgraded remote control with a QWERTY keyboard. A secondary box connects wirelessly to the main device allowing TV, DVR and VoD streaming to multiple rooms in a subscriber's house.[57] Liberty partnered with ActiveVideo in 2013 to include ActiveVideo's CloudTV on the Horizon boxes.[58] Twitter was integrated into Horizon's mobile app library in 2016. The addition allowed live tweets to be overlaid onto the screen of a program being broadcast.[59][60] Also in 2016, Horizon TV was launched in Austria, making it available in all three German-speaking countries that Liberty Global operates in.[61]

In September 2018, Liberty Global announced the next-generation video platform Horizon 4.[62]

Markets

Americas

Part of Liberty Global is separately listed as LiLAC (Liberty Latin America and Caribbean Group), operating in over 20 countries under the consumer brands VTR, FLOW, Liberty, Más Móvil and BTC, as well as having a sub-sea fiber network.

In January 2018, Liberty Latin America spun off the main company and began operating independently from Liberty Global.[65]

Liberty Global's operations in the Americas consists of Liberty Puerto Rico, a provider of pay TV, Internet, and telephone services in Puerto Rico, and VTR, a Chilean cable provider of television, telephone, mobile and internet services. Through the acquisition of Cable and Wireless Communications, Liberty Global has become the owner of the largest pay-TV and broadband provider in the Caribbean. In addition, the company also owns CWC's operations in the Seychelles named Cable and Wireless Seychelles.